An Open Love Letter To FIFA 12

It is highly likely, and this might just be the result of being lost in a game for the last two days solid, that EA Sports are about to release the greatest football sim of all time. FIFA 12, in all possibility, might very, very well be the ultimate sports game.

I will presume that everyone who's intending to buy it has already played the demo, but that doesn't do justice to how fantastic it is, how deep the game goes, how close to reality it feels, and how superior the franchise has now become over Konami.

I thought I'd never get the hang of the new defensive system, and with the option of turning it off and returning to the old days of pressing the A button to harry the oponent so you can make a standing tackle available, I was very tempted to return to the old ways. Which would be something akin to forgetting about the Age of Enlightenment and settling for being happy with frolicking around in your own filth. It's a fantastic change by EA, giving the opposition more space - thus commiting more men forward - while at the same time enabling you to win the ball and set up a quick counter attack. Therefore, when flicked round, and it is you on the attack, the same rings true. Finally, you have space to pull of tricks, slow the game down, and pick out a pass.

Career Mode, while still not as in-depth as the Master League, finds itself a very happy medium between Football Manager depth and simple getting-on-with-the-game simplicity. In truth, being able to interract with the press doesn't add much below the surface, whilst it seems a bit odd to praise or criticise your own players when it's you controlling them in the first place. But hours can be happily wiled away, which is all perfectly acceptable.

The new player engine, where tackles and falls look more realistic, has been two years in the works, and could probably do with a few more tweaks. No doubt a patch will be released to correct this in the near future. Players fly through the air too easily at times, and penalties are rewarded for innocuous challenges far too readily, but don't referees get decisions wrong in real life all the time anyway? Still, this side of the game feels like a work-in-progress, or if intended doesn't add anything to the game.

So, is it the greatest football game of all time? Does it trump all other sports sims? Personally, Championship Manager 2 still sits atop the pile, but Sensible Soccer and PES 4 definitely may have to move over. Overall, it certainly gives the NBA 2K franchise a run for its money, and may even be better than the exceptional MLB: The Show series. For the time being, this is as close to footballing perfection as we're going to get, and damn close it comes too.

The greatest football games of all time...